Statement of International Cataloguing Principles

Invitation to worldwide review

Comments due by June 30, 2008, to Barbara Tillett, Chair, IFLA’s IME ICC Planning Committee at btil@loc.gov or fax to +1 (202) 707-6629. A Vote form is available along with the clean copy of the Statement of International Cataloguing Principles and its accompanying Glossary.

The IFLA Cataloguing Section held a series of five regional meetings of the world’s cataloguing rule makers and cataloguing experts with the goal of identifying how to increase the ability to share cataloguing information worldwide by promoting standards for the content of bibliographic and authority records used in library catalogues.

In addition to the basic goal, the meetings also were designed to identify cataloguing codes used in those countries, to compare their similarities and differences and to see if it were possible to agree on certain core principles with a view to develop an international cataloguing code.

In the interest of efficiency it was determined to hold the regional meetings in five areas of the world that generally would coincide with the IFLA General Meeting held each August. The meetings were held in 2003 in Frankfurt, Germany (European countries and Anglo-American rule makers); 2004 in Buenos Aires, Argentina (Latin American and Caribbean countries); 2005 in Cairo, Egypt (Arabic-speaking Middle Eastern and Northern African countries); 2006 in Seoul, Korea (Asian rule makers and countries); and 2007 in Pretoria, South Africa (Sub-Saharan African countries). The draft documents now available for review, Statement of International Cataloguing Principles and its accompanying Glossary, are the outcome of the discussions and changes voted on and agreed to by the invited meeting participants. It is my belief that this document will provide the framework to reach the original goals of IFLA to increase the sharing of bibliographic information across communities, languages, and scripts.

I would like to thank IFLA, OCLC, the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, the Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, the National Library of Egypt, the Cairo Office of the Library of Congress, the Biblioteca Alexandrina, the King Abdul Aziz Public Library, the National Library of Korea, and the National Library of South Africa for their hospitality and support in coordinating the meetings.

After consideration of all comments from this worldwide review, a final draft will be submitted to the standing committees of the IFLA Cataloguing and Bibliography Sections of Division IV for approval prior to publication by IFLA.

Please send your vote and comments using the form found at the link in the left column by 2008 June 30 to:
Barbara B. Tillett
Email: btil@loc.gov
Fax: +1 (202) 707-6629

PDF: Statement of International Cataloguing Principles (Español)

Vía: http://catprinciples.pbwiki.com/